Chapter 9: Contract and Covenant (2)

At my words, she immediately wrapped six small 'Circles' around both her arms and assumed a combat stance.

Like loading ammunition into a gun.

And this expression wasn't exactly a metaphor.

In that it was the process of preparing to use any magic she desired at any time.

“You… sons of bitches!”

Just then, a furious shout came from behind.

When I turned around, the 「Guard Captain」, having collected his drenched self, was grinding his teeth and glaring this way.

“To hell with 'products', I'll slaughter you all!”

The man, who had shoved away a guest fleeing in front of him as if telling them not to get in the way, immediately kicked off the ground and started running.

The other guys didn't matter.

But that one man, if we were to face him right now, we had no chance of winning.

My level was 2, at best.

I had 「Vicious Mockery」 with 30 Charisma, but the limit of enemies I could one-turn-kill with it were those level 4-5 guards.

And it was a similar situation for the 'Companion', who was the same level as me.

On the other hand, that bastard was level 6.

On top of that, since he was treated as the boss of this dungeon, his so-called 'HP pool' was also much larger than that of other regular mobs of the same level.

Therefore, no matter how much I landed guaranteed critical hits through Charm, finishing him in one shot was absolutely impossible at this point.

Conversely, if the physically weak me or the 'Companion' took one hit from him, it was a guaranteed instant death.

In short, if I used 「Vicious Mockery」 on him, I'd be dead by the 'next turn'.

So, “Sir! Get back!”

Right now, people of the same class (level) had to cross swords.

Clang!

The man who had rushed over quickly blocked the 「Guard Captain」 sword.

Kkagagak, the two crossed blades ground against each other.

“Don't get in my way!”

The 「Guard Captain」 pushed his sword even more fiercely, as if to crush the man with the blades still locked.

“Keuk…!”

The man looked to be increasingly overwhelmed by the force.

If the muscular woman hadn't suddenly rushed in and struck down with her sword, he would have surely been cut down, sword and all.

“You damn slaves…!”

Since those two were ally NPCs of this hidden dungeon, their levels were similar to the guards here.

So while those two, whose levels were somewhat a match, tied up the Guard Captain, the two of us had to take care of the remaining guards.

That was the only way we could clear this dungeon.

“I don't care about the others, but capture that Northern Elf without a scratch! If her price drops──”

“「Fireball」.”

──Kwaang!

An explosion erupted, and the shouting guard was sent flying.

“Hi-kuaaaak──!?”

The small fireballs that scattered with the explosion and the man who was sent flying fell onto the liquor spilled on the floor, and he immediately began to burn fiercely.

The two who were already exhausted wouldn't be able to last long against the 「Guard Captain」.

We had to finish this quickly.

The spells the 'Companion' could use now were the 「Gale」 and 「Fireball」 she had used a moment ago, as well as basic 1st Circle elemental spells like 「Water Bomb」, 「Rock Shield」, and 「Lightning Bolt」.

By casting 「Fireball」 one more time just now, the number of 'Circles' remaining on her wrist became five.

That meant she could cast five more 1st Circle spells during this battle.

Excluding the 「Guard Captain」, the number of remaining guards was six.

“Caught one bastard here!”

One of them had a slave pinned to the floor, preventing them from escaping.

『You coward who boasts about picking on and bullying only the weak!』

“Uook!?”

Now five remained.

As the guard collapsed upon hearing my 「Vicious Mockery」, the subdued slave immediately got up and blended into the fleeing crowd.

“His mouth!”

Just then, the 「Guard Captain」 suddenly shouted.

Even while dealing with the two people alone, he began to observe the other guards and issue orders.

“Someone shut that bastard's mouth!”

The tip of his sword pointed at me.

At that, the gazes of the guards, who had been buried in the crowd and confused while searching for the scattered slaves, all turned this way at once.

“What are you doing? Shut him up, dammit!!”

Simultaneously with the roar, the nearest one immediately kicked off the ground and started to charge.

「Vicious Mockery」 was not ready yet.

“「Fireball」!”

Kwaang!

The moment the fireball that flew from the 'Companion's' hand directly hit the guard and exploded, small flames scattered in all directions, and one of them fell into a puddle of liquor, and whoosh! flames shot up.

It was then.

『Burn!』

“…!”

Hearing the spell's incantation, I quickly turned my head and saw a blazing ball of fire flying towards me.

“Rock──”

──Poof!

The 「Fireball」 exploded.

Blocked by a large 「Rock Shield」 that had been erected in front of me at some point.

The sparks that flew from it made the flames that had just flared up even more intense.

“Tsk…!”

I could hear the guard who shot the 「Fireball」 click his tongue.

At the same time, “Uooooo──!!”

A guard who let out a roar of 「Rage」 came running towards the 'Companion', holding an axe in both hands.

He must have thought she wouldn't be able to respond because she was in the middle of casting 「Rock Shield」.

He was mistaken.

“「Gale」!”

Fwoooosh──!

A strong wind burst out.

She lightly waved her left hand while her right hand, which was controlling the 「Rock Shield」, was still stretched out towards me, and the wind responded to her gesture.

Despite that, the charging guard was not sent flying.

It was because the effect of 「Rage」 prevented him from being forcibly pushed back.

Well, the flames burning on the side weren't so lucky.

“Eu, euuaaaaak!!”

The flickering flames, fanned by the fiercely blowing gust of wind, became a giant inferno and engulfed the charging guard.

The man stopped in his tracks and struggled to put out the fire on his body, but it wasn't for long.

Soon, the body of the man who had collapsed helplessly to the floor was still on fire.

Now three guards remained.

One of them kept shooting spells like 「Fireball」 and 「Magic Arrow」 at me, but each time, the 「Rock Shield」 that appeared in front of me moved and blocked their path.

And the remaining two, “You've run rampant enough…!”

Seemed to have circled around behind me at some point.

“I'll split your head open!”

Judging by the voice and the sound of running, it would probably be impossible for me to resist even if I turned around as fast as I could.

I'd probably just get a sword to the face as soon as I turned.

So I didn't look back.

“「Water Bomb」!”

Chwaaak!

“Ugh!?”

I could hear the sound of the guards, who had literally been hit by a downpour out of a clear sky, sliding in place.

“These little tricks…!”

By the time I turned around, one had landed on his butt, and the other was already trying to get up quickly.

“「Lightning Bolt」.”

Kwagwagwang!

This time, a real lightning bolt struck down, frying the two guards who were soaked in water to the point their bones were visible.

And so, all five Circles that remained on the 'Companion's' arm were exhausted.

Poof!

In the meantime, the 「Rock Shield」 blocked another 「Fireball」.

Kaang!

Meanwhile, over there, blades clashed once more.

“…!”

The muscular woman who had received the man's sword had a much more strained expression than before.

It wasn't just her expression.

In the few minutes we were dealing with the other guards, the two who were facing the captain had sustained new wounds I hadn't seen before.

In particular, the woman's right eyelid was completely torn, and her eye was covered in blood.

Because of that, she seemed to have failed to see the captain's left hand, balled into a fist instead of a sword, flying at her.

Thwack!

With a dull thud, the woman staggered, and the captain immediately raised his foot and kicked her in the abdomen.

“Ugh!”

The impact made her body bend over, and with both feet lifted into the air, the woman fell and crumpled to the ground where she stood.

The captain raised his sword high above her.

Thud!

If the man who had been lying on the floor for a moment hadn't quickly run up and slammed his body into him, the tip of the flashing sword would have surely been embedded not in the floor, but in the back of the woman's head.

But there was no time to worry about them now.

The 「Rock Shield」, as if it had reached its limit from the continuous attacks, started to crack with kwajik, kwajik sounds, and then, 『Pierce!』

Warrreureu!

It finally shattered into pieces from a 「Magic Arrow」.

“Ha!”

At that moment, my eyes met with the guard who was smiling triumphantly through the shattered rock fragments.

Since he was a mage too, he must have noticed that the 'Companion' had exhausted all her Circles.

He knew that there was no longer any way to block his magic.

“This time, it's the end──”

But it seemed he didn't know this fact.

That because his vision had been blocked by the large 「Rock Shield」 for so long, he hadn't seen my face for a while either.

“──!”

For a moment, the man gasped.

And the two eyes looking at me were tinged with a light crimson.

He was 'Charmed'.

「Vicious Mockery」 was already prepared.

『Calling that magic and calling yourself a mage for using it is more magical than the magic itself!』

“Ugh!?”

To the 'Charmed' man, my 「Vicious Mockery」 was fatal.

With the last guard falling, all the 'mobs' in this dungeon were taken care of.

Now all that was left was the boss, the 「Guard Captain」.

“You──”

Realizing this, the man shouted in fury.

“You, useless bastards!”

Of course, it wasn't a reaction of sorrow for the death of his subordinates.

“If it's come to this, I'll take you all down myself…!”

The moment I turned my head, he twisted his sword, knocking away the blade he was locked with, and at the same time, cut down the man's upper body in the opening.

“No!”

The woman who saw the scene screamed and charged, but she was struck by the pommel of the sword he swung and was sent flying, collapsing.

The 「Guard Captain」 didn't stop there and immediately started charging towards us.

“I'll cut off your tongue first!”

In a few more steps, he would surely make good on his words.

「Vicious Mockery」 was not ready.

All the prepared Circles were exhausted.

Even if we could have used 「Vicious Mockery」 or the 'Companion's' magic, it would have been insufficient to defeat him anyway.

So, in the current situation, we had no means to stop him.

As I said before, this was not a dungeon that could be cleared at our current level.

His level was 6.

Even the guards, who were treated as mobs, were level 4-5.

──And, since I first leveled up, we have dealt with a total of twelve guards.

In other words,

--

Level Up!

Lv. 2 → 3

--

It meant that I had gained enough experience to level up once more.

--

Please select a skill to learn

--

As I mentioned before, at level 3, I could learn another core skill for this Bard build.

The reason I said it was the only way to clear this dungeon.

The name of that skill was──

『──Kneel.』

「Word Command」.

To put it simply, it was a skill that allowed me to control the opponent with my words.